


Who Are You Waiting For?

by azureheavens



Series: Lord and Lady [2]
Category: Tales of Graces
Genre: Closure, Domestic, F/M, Fluff, aka the one time where they argue and it actually ends well, the beginning of many other times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 01:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7413586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azureheavens/pseuds/azureheavens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After moving in, Cheria helps Asbel clean off the desk in his room. But an accidental discovery leads to brewing trouble and an important question that Asbel needs to answer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Are You Waiting For?

Asbel was embarrassed with the mess in his childhood bedroom, the one he still slept in so many years later. To be the Lord of his hometown and still sleep with a large, wooden ship model looming in the corner of the room was strange, but he didn't need to force his mother out of the master bedroom for the sake of his pride. However since Cheria had finished her relief work and finally moved into the manor a little over a week ago, that need began to present itself.

He had already been working on picking up the rest of his old room. The maids in the manor took care of cleaning everything except for a few clusters of stuff. Asbel insisted he'd take care of it himself, feeling responsible for letting the mess pile up over the years, but he never found the time until today. He and his family had already finished lunch and it was time for Sophie to go back to her tutoring lessons. Cheria, having finished her own to-do list for the day, offered to help him clean.

"Ew, this drawer smells foul!" Cheria recoiled from her view of the bottom drawer, one hand covering her nose and the other waving away the smell.

"Sorry," Asbel said automatically. He put down the tool he had used to pry open the drawer, since it wouldn't open like the other ones. "Phew, that is bad! I wonder why it was stuck like that."

"Have you even opened that in all these years?"

"I guess not. Oh…"

"…What?" She asked flatly.

"It's chewing gum. I guess I was trying to seal this drawer shut for some reason, so I got a couple wads to stick in edge of it."

Cheria balked. "But why would you-! Never mind, it needs to go. Could you clean it out? I just, I need some air first." She turned and walked over to the already open window.

Asbel pulled out the entire drawer and carried it to the garbage bag sitting by the door. The smell was pretty bad, but it felt better to get rid of whatever was inside. Papers fell out of the upturned drawer, and Asbel flinched as the skeleton of a small lizard fell out too. He drew a blank where it could have come from, but he breathed sigh of relief. At least Cheria didn't see it, he thought.

Cheria was still by the window. She leaned her hands against the sill as she gazed out into the clear afternoon sky. The cliff face didn't offer much else to look at, but she seemed to enjoy it. She leaned out farther to feel a breeze, which tugged her curly hair and ribbons long with it. She kicked up her foot a bit, which Asbel traced with his eyes up her leg to look at her thighs.

Asbel quickly turned his face to the ground, realizing he was staring. He still wasn't used to having her living in the manor too. She slept in the second bed in the guest room. Sophie was ecstatic with the arrangement, saying she could spend more one on one time with Cheria before the wedding.

Not that any wedding talk happened yet. Things still felt kind of… new. He had no way of bringing up the subject without feeling overwhelmed. He wondered if Cheria thought the same, because even she hadn't mentioned it since she returned to Lhant.

"Asbel? What are these?"

Asbel looked up. Cheria had moved back to the messy desk with a concerned look on her face, holding some already opened letters in her hand. But Asbel didn't recognize them. "Those? Are they some of the letters you sent me before?"

She shook her head. "No, they're definitely not from me." Cheria took a large pause. Now Asbel was getting worried. "They're… from other women."

Asbel's stomach dropped straight to the ground. Oh, crap. The proposal letters. Why the hell were they still on his desk?! His mom said she would burn them all herself once he had chosen someone to marry, right? So why were they in the hands of the one he was practically engaged to? "Oh, those…" Asbel managed to speak, walking back across the room to her. He tried to string together an explanation that would end the conversation. "Those are old letters, from women I've never contacted before."

"But aren't these marriage proposals? I heard you'd gotten a lot of them…"

"Well, yes, that's true. But It's not like I asked for them to send them. It was my mom's idea, really. And I stopped getting them a long time ago, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Oh…" Cheria's concerned expression didn't change, but she seemed less tense. "That's good to hear."

Cheria's reaction was so mild. Asbel was surprised. He'd expected an "Un-believable!" or something thrown in by now. He felt he could laugh it off at least. "You know, I had completely forgotten those letters were still around. But I can get rid of them now." He held out his hand to take the letters.

"Wait! Before you do that," she said while pulling the letters out of his reach. "Do you mind if looked at them first?"

"Huh? Why do you want that?"

"No reason! I've just been, kind of curious where all these proposals were coming from." Cheria tried a smile to help the situation. "Is that bad?"

"Uh, no, but," Asbel stammered. He started rubbing the back of his neck. "If that's what you want to do…"

Cheria opened the first of the letters and started reading them to herself, pacing the room as she did. Asbel was antsy to do the same. He didn't want her looking at them, but since he had zero interest in these women anyway, all he could do was watch.

Cheria stopped and turned to Asbel incredulously. "Thirteen years old?! That's way too young for marriage."

He put up his hands. "I have no idea…"

"Well, she's quite accomplished for a teenager…" She flipped through a few more pages that Asbel didn't even bother to look at before moving on to the next letter. "Nanaly Fletcher… She's very pretty. Ooh, and she helps care for orphans." She placed her free hand on her chest and smiled. "That's good…"

Asbel nodded. He knew Cheria would appreciate that, but that alone wasn't something that should decide marriage. Now that he thought of it, this was the closest they've been to talking about marriage, and it was about other people. Something seemed shameful about that.

Cheria was already reading the contents of the third letter, which Asbel had opened but lost interest in before he even looked inside. She read silently, then turned her back to him so he couldn't read her face.

Silence reigned for an unnerving minute.

"Are all the proposal letters like this?" she asked.

"Uh, pretty much. A picture, a biography, sometimes a letter a letter to introduce themselves."

"I just find it hard to believe that with all these amazing women writing to you that you didn't find a single one of them interesting."

Asbel's face screwed up in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Cheria turned on him. "Are you interested in these women? Is that why their pictures are sitting there near the top of the desk, in your room?"

"What? No! I haven't used the desk up here in months. And I haven't replied to a single one of the proposal letters since I started getting them."

"And how long has that been for? How many of them have you seen?" Cheria looked angry, but also like she was trying to stop herself. Her lips pursed, her cheeks puffed out, her eyes blinked rapidly as they looked around the room. "Have you not been responding to them because you're trying to get more?"

Asbel clenched his fists. "Of course not! What do you want me to say?" He asked, his voice louder than intended. "And if I ever did meet any of these girls it was because my mom invited them over without telling me!"

"Oh, I bet you met with a lot of them! Those girls were probably so eager to meet you. Why not choose one of them to come live with you instead?"

"Does it matter? Guess I was just, waiting for something else!"

"Something like what?!"

He threw out his hands in front of him. "For you, Cheria!"

Their arguing stopped. Asbel's hands and mouth froze in place as he realized what he said. Cheria took a step back, clutching at the letters in her hand.

"For me?" she asked softly.

Asbel's face grew hot. He dropped his hands to his sides in tight fists, looking down at the ground below her feet. "Yeah," was all he could say.

She took a step closer. "I had no idea." He looked up to meet her gaze. Her brown eyes pierced him like an arrow. His breath stuck in his chest. "What do you mean, 'waiting for me?'"

Asbel cleared his dried out throat. "Well," he began. A now or never moment. "Those six months from going through the Ghardia Shaft and seeing you again was pretty rough, actually. Not just getting caught up with everything, but… Lhant felt like a smaller town without you there. I didn't realize just how much smaller until you left.”

Cheria didn't blink the entire time she listened him, her expression softening cutely. Asbel continued. “Then as these letters started coming in, I couldn't really focus on what they said. I kept thinking about you. And I did want to see you the times you came by, but meetings always seemed to come up. I felt awful, but I couldn't do anything about it. This is what you wanted to do with your life. It wasn't my place to take you away from it. And I tried asking you before, but you stopped me. So I thought… I shouldn't bring it up."

It took a moment before Cheria started blinking in wonder. Her mouth stuck open as she tried to find the words. "I didn't know you felt like that."

"I didn't really tell anybody. You already decided what you wanted, so I tried ignoring it. It didn't matter, so-"

"It does matter. Asbel, it matters so much." Her words were no more than a whisper. She looked at him with a sweet sadness. "Have you always felt like this?" she asked.

"Not really sure," he admitted, bringing his hand to the back of his neck. "But that night you told me you were going back to your relief work, I did feel like I understood you better. I understood how you felt while I was gone all those years."

Silence reigned again, but it wasn’t heavy or cold. Cheria looked down in shame. "I'm sorry for yelling, and accusing you like that. I thought you just decided on me because you already knew me, and you wanted the safe choice. Sometimes I have no idea what our relationship is. It's more than just friendship, but…"

Asbel stepped to her. He nervously laid his hands on Cheria's arms. "I guess that's my fault then."

Cheria shook her head. They both looked at each other, not sure what to say next.

Words weren't enough anymore. A strange gravity pulled their faces closer together. His fingers gripped her arms as worry overtook him. He was going to mess this up, too. But Cheria had already closed her eyes. Their faces were centimeters apart before he closed his. He pulled her in and kissed her.

Her shoulders tensed, but she didn't pull away. Asbel's mind emptied. A mixed floral scent filled him as he breathed her in. Her lips were warm, small, and soft, but the kiss was more than that. A cool sensation trickled through his chest, spreading everywhere. He liked it. Like water to a parched soul.

Cheria's face was bright pink when they separated. Her large brown eyes fluttered open and gazed at him, before she turned her face downward. She still looked at the letters held tight between her fingers. That wouldn't do. Asbel lifted her chin up with his knuckle.

As soon as he did Cheria pushed her lips against his with such force he had to stumble back a step. The letters fluttered uselessly to the floor, and then he could hear nothing else but his own heart pulsing in his ears. He wrapped his arms around her. Cheria gripped his shoulders like he was going to disappear any moment, sliding her quivering fingers up his neck, tickling his hairline. She pressed her chest against his, and he squeezed her tighter.

Their kiss went on, noses squishing against each other as they moved. Cheria's soft, audible sigh against his mouth sent goosebumps all over his body, and brought him back to where they were standing. They slowly pulled away. One look at each other and a jittery bout of laughter replaced their breathlessness. His fingers trembled as he cupped her cheek in his hand. Cheria brought her own hand up and placed it over his, smiling that way with her eyes when she was looking only at him. Asbel matched the love in his eyes to what he found in hers.

"No more waiting," she whispered.

Asbel nodded, and leaned in to give her one more kiss. They were surprisingly easy to do.

They stood wrapped up in each other for a moment longer before Cheria bent down to the ground. "I don't think you need these anymore," she said, picking up the letters from around their feet.

Asbel bent down to help, still marveling over his tingling lips. "Yeah, haven't needed them for a while, anyway." He reached to grab one.

Cheria snapped it up before he could even touch it. "That doesn't mean I don't want them."

Asbel looked up in confusion, but her giggle and impish smile only confused him more.

"You may not want to marry any of these girls, but that doesn't mean I can't invite them over and make a new friend or two." Cheria started walking backwards toward the door, holding the letters up to hide her lips. She flipped one over to read it. "Hmm, Mimi Baker? I wonder if she knows any good bread recipes."

Asbel straightened up and gawked at her. She couldn't have been serious, but she didn't seem too against it either. Asbel threw out a hand to grab the letters. Cheria pulled them away, watching him like she didn't know how long she could get away with this. He swiped at her again, and she squeaked when his hand brushed her clothes. Asbel found his own mischievous smile as he lunged and grabbed her hand, tugging her to him.

Cheria fell into his arms a little too easily, her hand lightly resting on his chest. Asbel took the letters at last and crumpled them up as best he could in one hand. No more waiting, he thought, as Cheria snuggled up against him, giving one last happy sigh.


End file.
